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Introducing Xbox LIVE Community Games
You’ve played Xbox 360 games with the millions of gamers on Xbox LIVE. You’ve chatted, shared, and dominated in games of all kinds. But what if those millions could be playing your game?
Better still – what if you were getting paid for it?
Starting holiday 2008, Xbox LIVE Community Games is your ticket to fame – and possibly fortune as millions of Xbox LIVE users now have the opportunity to view, buy, and play games that you create.
How it Works
The setup? Simple. The payments? Cash.
As a Premium member in the XNA Creators Club, you’ll be able to submit any complete Xbox 360 game you’ve created in XNA Game Studio to the Creators Club community at http://creators.xna.com, for peer review. Other Premium Creators will check to make sure your game is safe to play. If it is, you’ll set a price point – between 200 and 800 Points – that people will pay to download your game.
Once the game is reviewed and the price point set, you’re done. The game is listed on Xbox LIVE Marketplace, and you’ll get an electronic payment every quarter, for up to 70% of the game’s total revenue in your own currency. Depending on your game’s success, you may even have your game advertised on Xbox 360 and other Microsoft online properties.
Just imagine - your game in the hands of millions of Xbox 360 gamers around the world: that’s the power of Community Games.
How to Get Started
While the official launch of Xbox LIVE Community Games won’t be until later this year, you can start working on that great game right now with XNA Game Studio and the XNA Creators Club Online community!
First, download XNA Game Studio, the free game development tool from Microsoft. It’s free and works with Visual Studio or Visual C# Express Edition. If you’ve never made a game before, the XNA Creators Club website has tons of samples, tutorials, even whole video guides to game creation. Jump right in and start coding your dream game!
Next, join the XNA Creator’s Club at http://creators.xna.com. It’s a community of game creators just like you. If you’re going to develop games for Xbox 360 and want to sell your game on Xbox LIVE Community Games, you’ll need a Premium membership. It’s just $99 per year or $49 for four months.
Finally, submit your finished game to the XNA Creators Club and watch the money roll in!
Questions?
If you’ve got a question about Community Games, XNA Game Studio, and all of the details in between, please read the handy FAQ to get your answers.
FAQ
| What does the business model look like? How much is Microsoft making off of these user-generated games? |
We’ve developed a business model that we believe will create the best possible experience for both consumers and developers. We’re announcing the opportunity for independent and hobbyist developers to benefit from their hard work with a business model, similar to those available to professional developers. Xbox 360 is the first console to open up development to the masses, and allow for anyone to turn fledgling talent into a couple of extra bucks, or potentially a full blown career.
Creators will receive 70 percent of the total revenue from their game sales as a baseline. We will additionally invest in and feature a handful of games at a time by promoting them both on the console as well as on Xbox.com. During this promotional period where games are showcased along with a handful of others, we will deduct 10-30 percent promotional fee based on performance in exchange for driving increased exposure and sales. Basically, the developer will always benefit from the sales of their games and we’ll be working with our merchandising team to help boost the game’s revenue when we see potential for even greater success. This business model will act as an additional incentive to for game creators ensure that the best, most innovative games continue to be made for Xbox 360.
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| Why do creators only get such a small percentage? This seems like significantly less than what creators could get from Steam, Apple, PSN or WiiWare. |
The revenue split percentages offered by Xbox LIVE Community Games are among the highest paid out to any game creator in the industry.
Creators will receive 70 percent of the total revenue from their game sales as a baseline. We will additionally invest in and feature a handful of games at a time by promoting them both on the console as well as on Xbox.com. During this promotional period where your game is showcased along a handful of others, we will deduct an additional 10-30 percent promotional fee based on performance in exchange for driving increased exposure and sales. Basically, the developer will always benefit from the sales of their games and we’ll be working with our merchandising team to help boost the game’s revenue when we see potential for even greater success. This business model will act as an additional incentive for game creators to ensure that the best, most innovative games continue to be made for the Xbox 360.
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| Apple is offering game development for the iPhone and opening up a marketplace for anyone to download games and applications, are you truly the innovators here? |
Apple is managing the content that is released into its marketplace, picking and choosing which games and applications are available for download. We’re revolutionizing the way games are created and distributed because we’re not the arbiters of content. The games on Xbox LIVE Community Games will be built by the community, for the community and managed by the community.
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| In which regions will developers be able to sell their games at launch? |
Creators Club Premium members in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Spain will be able to create, share and sell their games on Xbox LIVE when Community Games launches this holiday. We will look to add support for additional countries soon after the service launches this holiday.
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| How will games get featured? |
We are still working through our merchandising plans and will share the details with our Creators closer to service launch this holiday.
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| Can creators choose to opt out of being featured? |
No, all creators agree to a common set of terms when they submit their game to the service. The majority of sales and revenue a creator earns will be generated by our promotions. The Creator will always benefit from the sales of their games and we’ll be working with our merchandising team to help boost the game’s revenue when we see potential for even greater success.
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| How much will Community Games sell for? |
Creators can chose to sell games for 200, 400 or 800 MS points. The maximum size limit for 200 point games is 50 MB. For 400 and 800 points games the max size is 150 MB.
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| What happens if peer reviewers reject a game because they don’t believe it’s worth the specified number of points? |
We will not display the price of a game during Peer Review. Peer Review is not a review of the “worth” of a game.
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| Can creators release free games? |
At the moment there is no mechanism to distribute free games, but we’re always exploring new ways to distribute Xbox LIVE Community Games.
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| Why aren’t you offering free games? |
We are always open to exploring other options, but today it is about offering entrepreneurial opportunities for community game developers.
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| How big will this business be in comparison to blockbuster titles or Xbox LIVE Arcade games? |
We’re pioneering the industry with Xbox LIVE Community Games, and believe that user-generated content is an area with incredible growth potential in the gaming industry. However, this has never been done before, so we can’t speculate just how large this will grow the business. The community will define how big this business becomes.
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| How often will creators get paid? |
Payments will occur once a quarter as is standard for all of Microsoft’s developers.
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| How will you be making payouts to community game developers, in cash or in Microsoft Points? |
We will not payout creators in points. All points generated by games will be converted to U.S. Dollars and then converted to the relevant currency.
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| If a developer only makes $2.50 a quarter, will he still receive payment? |
There will be a minimum payout limit per quarter and if you do not reach this limit there will be no payout. We’re still working to determine the minimum payout per quarter.
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| Will earnings from Community Games be taxable? |
Yes.
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| Will professional AAA, and Xbox LIVE Arcade developers be able to create Community Games? |
Absolutely, this distribution channel is for anyone who is developing games using XNA Game Studio. As long as your game meets the requirements, and you are a premium member of the creators club, you can submit games to the service.
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| How does a title’s rank get determined and displayed on the console and Web site? |
As part the bold new Xbox experience, the Community Games store front will be an easy-to-use addition to the existing marketplace when it launches on Xbox LIVE. Consumers will be able to view community games on Xbox.com, watch trailers, and even play a trial of each game before buying as a simple way to discover fun and quirky titles.
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| Can I purchase advertising or otherwise influence my title’s rank? |
We’ll have more detailed information on the full consumer experience closer to our consumer launch later this holiday.
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| Will Xbox LIVE Community Games Marketplace generate as much revenue as games on Xbox LIVE Arcade? |
It is too early to say how much revenue we expect to generate from Xbox LIVE Community Games. What we can say is that we expect Community Games and Xbox LIVE Arcade to be complementary to one another. Community Games will be an outlet for the masses to experiment and create the craziest, quirkiest games imaginable, while Xbox LIVE Arcade will continue to feature the crème de la crème of refined, polished, casual arcade games.
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| You have been talking about your vision for a “community arcade” or “YouTube of games” for a while now. What does the announcement of Community Games mean? |
Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE Community Games is the realization of the promise to truly democratize game development and revolutionize the way consumers get, play and even create their games. For Xbox 360 owners, Xbox LIVE Community Games will usher in a flood of new, creative games, with the potential to introduce hundreds of fresh, innovative community and indie games as part of the existing game library by the end of 2008.
This new offering is a friction-free, community game distribution on Xbox LIVE that provides the opportunity for members of the community to participate in the global game industry economy. Using XNA Game Studio, the community will have the opportunity to create games, submit them into a peer-review system, and upon successfully being peer-reviewed, their game will get added directly to Xbox LIVE Marketplace and immediately available for consumption by Xbox 360 consoles connected to LIVE. The availability of Community Games for Xbox LIVE Marketplace represents Microsoft’s fulfillment on its promise to provide the best, most accessible tools and the an open game distribution channel over Xbox LIVE to ensure that the best games continue to be built for the Xbox 360 platform.
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| Why is this Community Games effort so important to indie gaming and development? |
Xbox LIVE Community Games will be the realization of the promise to truly democratize game development and revolutionize the way consumers get, play and even create their games. For Xbox 360 owners, Community Games for Xbox LIVE will usher in a flood of new, creative games, with the potential to introduce hundreds of new, innovative community and indie games as part of the existing game library by the end of 2008.
Now we’re announcing the opportunity for independent and hobbyist developers to benefit from their hard work with a business model, similar to those available to professionals. Xbox 360 is the first console to open up development to the masses, and allow anyone to turn fledgling talent into a couple of extra bucks, or potentially a full blown career. The business model will act as an additional incentive to ensure that the best, most innovative games continue to be made for Xbox 360.
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| What is the official name of this Community Games service? |
We can now announce that the official name of this offering is Xbox LIVE Community Games.
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| What sort of Community Games will we see on Xbox LIVE? |
We anticipate that there will be an incredibly diverse variety of Community Games available on Xbox LIVE, and we’re confident that there will be something for everyone. Within just four months of our first “Dream-Build-Play” contest, we received more than 200 game submissions in every genre demonstrating the power of creativity in our development community.
We’re seeing a lot of creativity coming out of the Community Games beta. Right now, there are more than 60 titles available, varying from a multi player, 3-D combat style game to a musical game for babies. We expect the business model to act as an additional incentive to developers to ensure that the best, most innovative games continue to be made for Xbox 360.
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| When will the beta for creating and distributing Community Games be available? |
The beta is available now to XNA Creators Club members in the U.S. at http://creators.xna.com.
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| How do I gain access to the beta? |
The beta is open to all active members of the XNA Creators Club. You can purchase a membership from Marketplace in participating Xbox LIVE enabled countries or online at http://creators.xna.com.
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| When will the Community Games beta be open to other regions? |
All Creators Club Premium members can participate in the creation, submission, and peer review roles, but consumption – or play – is limited to U.S. only in this Beta. We’ll be adding support for other regions in the coming months.
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| In which regions will Xbox LIVE Community Games be available when it launches this holiday? |
Consumers in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Spain will be able to download Xbox LIVE Community Games at launch. We’ll be adding support for other regions later in 2009 and beyond.
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| How many Community Games are available on the beta right now? |
We’re seeing a lot of creativity coming out of the Community Games beta. Right now, there are more than 60 titles available, varying from a virtual Multiplayer 3-D combat game to a musical game for babies. We expect the business model to act as an additional incentive to developers to ensure that the best, most innovative games continue to be made for Xbox 360.
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| When will the everyday Xbox 360 player be able to download these user-generated games and play them? |
We launched the beta this spring for members of the XNA Creators Club. We expect Xbox LIVE Community Games to be available to consumers in the U.S. and select international markets by holiday of this year.
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| Will the everyday Xbox 360 player be able to create Community Games for Xbox LIVE? |
Absolutely. Using the XNA Game Studio software along with purchasing a membership to the XNA Creators Club, anyone with the desire and know-how can create a game for Xbox LIVE. We designed the ability to offer Xbox LIVE Community Games with the intent to open development up to the masses, but also to bring more choices and greater innovation to the everyday Xbox 360 player.
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| With Microsoft saying that it will begin to "delist" underperforming games from its flagship Xbox LIVE Arcade download service, what are the guarantees that players' favorite Creators Club games will be allowed to suck up bandwidth on Microsoft's servers? |
We currently have no plans to delist or remove any game successfully approved by the community and listed in our catalog. Inappropriate games can still get removed of course through our abuse reporting mechanisms.
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| Will delisted Xbox LIVE Arcade games have the option to move to Xbox LIVE Community Games? |
Those interested in doing so should initiate that conversation with their account manager.
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| How long will Creator's Club games stay around? |
We currently have no plans to delist or remove any game successfully approved by the community and listed in our catalog. Inappropriate games can still get removed of course through our abuse reporting mechanisms.
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| Does this pose a threat to publishers? Is it encouraging professional developers to moonlight/work for themselves and make their own games? |
This is not a threat given professional game developers, studios and publishers already have commercial avenues for getting their games published and into consumers’ hands. The offering of Xbox LIVE Community Games is designed to give consumers the opportunity to create games by the community and for the community in addition to playing the incredible commercial game content from our professional development and publishing partners.
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| Is there a certification process for Community Games? |
Games created by the community do not go through the same certification process which professional games do. Instead, this new offering employs a unique community driven peer-review and validation process to ensure game details accurately reflect the game’s subject matter and content through our game classification system.
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| Will Microsoft decide which Community Games are distributed? |
No. While games must be created within the submission guidelines, this new offering truly democratizes game development and distribution by placing the tools and processes in the hands of our Xbox LIVE gaming community.
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| Will Xbox LIVE Community Games creators be able to incorporate “Avatars” into their games? |
That isn’t something we’re supporting at the moment, but we’re always looking for new development opportunities for our creators.
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| Does opening up community creation expose the system to security breaches? |
The design of XNA Game Studio and Xbox LIVE Community Games distribution are driven with stringent security and system integrity principles in mind. The process is designed to protect Xbox 360 owners safe from security breaches at every step, from development to gameplay. The closed sandbox XNA communities on Xbox 360, as well as the gauntlet of validation each game must go through prior to distribution are just two of the ways we have guarded the system from these types of failures.
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| How does an independent developer or enthusiast go about getting his XNA Game Studio -developed game distributed on Xbox LIVE Marketplace? |
This will be done through following a simple 4-step process.
- Create
- Submit
- Peer Review
- Play
We understand that with great power comes great responsibility, and if we’re going to allow the community to have that breadth of content, we need to provide the tools to allow the community to manage it. We’ve already talked about the first step, “create.” The next step in the process is “submit,” where as a creator you need to provide information about your game and classify it using consistent guidelines. After you submit your game, it is in the hands of your peers who will review the game based on a few basic principles. Your fellow Creators Club reviewers will be making sure there is no prohibitive content like IP infringement or seriously objectionable subject matter. Then they will make sure you have classified your game correctly. This isn’t to put constraints on your game, but rather, it is to make sure consumers are accurately informed about what they are downloading. Once your game successfully passes peer review, it is pushed through to Xbox LIVE. It is as simple as “create,” “submit,” “review” and “play.” This process is currently available for beta testing.
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| What is keeping Creators Club members from certifying games that have inappropriate sexual or violent content? |
There are checks and balances throughout the peer review system which enables community created games to be submitted, approved and ultimately distributed over Xbox LIVE. Each peer reviewer is rewarded with a better reviewer reputation by the system for accuracy. Conversely, reviewers can get penalized or even banned from the ability to review games should the need arise. If inappropriate content makes it through the peer review process, the process has mechanisms to support reactive takedown measures as needed.
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| How many Creators Club members will be needed to approve a game? |
We will not be publicly disclosing this number in order to maintain the security checks and balances already in place.
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| How many members are currently in the Creators Club? |
While we can’t share the specific membership numbers, we can share that we’ve had more than 1,000,000 downloads of the XNA toolset since it was introduced. To give you a little perspective, that is more than 25 times the number of professional developers in the industry.
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| Do I need to be an XNA Creators Club member to distribute my Xbox LIVE Community Games? |
Yes. A Creators Club Premium membership is required to create and distribute games for Xbox 360. An XNA Creators Club Premium membership for Xbox 360 may be purchased through Xbox LIVE Marketplace for $99 a year or $49 for a four-month.
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| How many games can I submit with my $99 a year Creator Club Membership? |
We are currently working to determine what the limits of the system are. Stay tuned for more developments closer to the consumer launch of Xbox LIVE Community Games.
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| Can I submit games with my $49 a year Creators Club Membership? |
Yes. Any active XNA Creators Club premium member can submit and peer review games.
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| What is new about the XNA Creators Club? |
The XNA Community Team has delivered on its promise to offer a new Creators Club Online community at http://creators.xna.com aimed at further democratizing the game development community. This early beta of the new XNA Creators Club Online Web site was launched alongside the beta for Xbox LIVE Community Games and has several new features, including:
- Premium members now have the added capability to support Community Games submission, peer review, and distribution over Xbox LIVE Marketplace.
- Premium members can participate in the creation, submission, and peer review roles, but consumption – or play – is limited to U.S.-only during this first part of the Beta.
- An improved registration process that removes the need for an Xbox gamertag for basic membership (Premium members must associate their Xbox gamertags with their account to participate in the Xbox LIVE Community Games Beta).
- Categorized areas for faster discoverability.
- A new starter kit: Role Playing Game.
- Guided tours of the new Web site features and the Community Games distribution process.
- An explanation of membership benefits with the ability to sign up using the Web.
- And much, much more.
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| What is the Creators Club Online? |
The XNA Creators Club is a community all about games made by you and creators like you. It’s free and easy to join at http://creators.xna.com. You’ll get powerful tools for making your own games on Windows and Xbox 360, and an arsenal of educational and community resources on the XNA Creators Club Online Web site. Create your games, submit them for review by the community, and get the games you create onto Xbox LIVE Marketplace. It’s game development for everyone.
Premium membership - $99.00/year or $49.00 for 4 months
You have to be a premium member to have access to the Community Games beta – the ability to submit and review games for Xbox LIVE Marketplace.
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| How do titles get filtered for potentially offending or copyright-infringing content? |
The ability to distribute Xbox LIVE Community Games is designed with a robust proactive and reactive screening process in mind. The core design is based on the community peer review process where a peer group of XNA Creators Club members are empowered to be self policing. Each game submission must be played and validated by several members of the community and assessed against the service’s Terms of Use (TOS). When reviewers identify in a game unauthorized or inappropriate content that doesn’t comply with the policies, the game will not be listed on Xbox LIVE Marketplace until the submitter removes such content. Post distribution on Xbox LIVE Marketplace, Microsoft will actively remove infringing content when properly notified by the copyright owner(s) and will remove inappropriate content when notified by the community.
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| Can I create multiplayer LIVE games and distribute them via Xbox LIVE Community Games? |
Absolutely. We’ve upgraded XNA Game Studio to include multiplayer and matchmaking functionality. This new offering is capable of distributing any title developers can create using the XNA Game Studio development tools.
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| Once I distribute my game to Xbox LIVE, how will the community find my game among hundreds or thousands of other games? |
As part the bold new Xbox experience, the Community Games store front will be an easy-to-use addition to the existing marketplace when it launches on Xbox LIVE. Consumers will be able to view and rate community games on Xbox.com, watch trailers, and even play a trial of each game before buying as a simple way to discover fun and quirky titles.
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| Can I give out Achievements and Gamerscore in my community-created title? |
No. Achievements are reserved for commercial games.
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